‘Take Time by the Forelock’

That being true, there happens, too, there’s a whale of a difference between pulling and being pulled.

Any person who “takes time by the forelock” (meaning going before), goes before. But woe to any preferring to dilly-dally, such guy might be compared to a horse or a donkey mistakenly tied to the tail-end of a cart and pulling back with all his weight.

By the way, forelock is the front part of a horse’s mane that falls forward between its ears, as you know very well. In case of humans, it’s the lock of hair growing or falling over the forehead.

“Taking time by the forelock” was used in olden days – even today, anyway – of not letting slip an opportunity by managing time usefully or purposely.

Managing time is all upon us; it escapes no one. Work or on leisure, time is of the essence.

Timing is essential, too, the difference of being COMPLETE and FINISHED, as explained gigglelingly by friend, Sam Kit Chan, lady from Bontoc, Mountain Province and residing at Guisad barangay, Baguio City.

Sam, a lovely woman, can dish out a joke or two about the fairer sex where she belongs, and giggles like a school girl when other girls pout about her joking on women.

Some people swear there is no difference on timing, but there is. Sam happily says:

“When a bachelor marries the right girl, the man and his time are COMPLETE.”

“When a bachelor marries a wrong girl, the man and his time are FINISHED.”

“If a bachelor marries a girl, goes home after work only to discover his wife playing tong-its with the neighbors and exchanging gossip while her children are unattended, their faces unwashed and noses unwiped, the man and his time are COMPLETELY FINISHED. Worn out. Dead.”

In Spanish it means, terminado, in French, it means fini. German, it means kaput. In Ilokano, it means naspak ni Juan nga naki-asawa.

It goes to prove that anader hombre, dis time a man, Busto Camado, 57, from La Union, is right all along about time of gossip. Why, you say?

Because, Busto explains that time is not measured by clocks but by moments,

So, Time is a sturdy beast, and steady to the plowing; only Time can drag along the heaviest sluggard among us.

Ah remembers that long time ago when, instead of seizing time of opportunity to give his apong a one good deed, he didn’t and lost a golden opportunity to prove he was a man.

It happened this way:

Apong: “Apok, iyawat mo man kaniak tay gurabis.”

Ah: “Daytoy ni, Apong, ti lighter.”

Apong: “Gurabis ti kunak, saan nga lighter, apok.”

Ah: “Ket isu met laeng nga agsindi toy lighter, Apong.”

Apong: Mapagkurikur ko ngarud ti lighter iti lapayag ko, apok?”

Ah’s apong, named only Mandi-it, was a respected warrior from the Talubin tribe in Bontoc, Mountain Province. During his time, he held of the peace pact between Talubin, Sabangan and other municipalities.

It was related to Ah during his youth that his apong Mandi-it spoke rarely, but when he did, people listened. During the time his apong asked a request, Ah blustered and didn’t listen.

Now his apong has gone to the Happy Hunting Grounds in the Sky. Ah can only knock his head on the wall, saying, “If I can only undo that wrong time I did to apong …”

So, when our apong orders us to do something, it’s time we do it, and we better seize the forelock and do it damn right, Unnerstang?